Analysis and validation of IEC 61131-3 applications using a MDE approach

Model-centric development is one of the hottest topics discussed in the software engineering field today. Combination of Model Driven Development and Model Driven Architecture can be extremely powerful for supporting the development cycle of the application. The use of these software methodologies within the Industrial Automation field allows meeting the requirement of current automation applications, such as flexibility, reuse, optimization and time and cost reduction. This paper focuses on the validation phase of a previously proposed Model-based Integrated Development Environment for Industrial Process Measurement and Control Systems (IPMCS). In particular, the validation tests for the industrial control system being designed are automatically generated from the application model. The tests are executed by the control co-simulation tool that closes the loop between the control model, running in the PLC environment, and the process model running in a simulation environment.